Jack's second day of life

Both Jack and Cristy are doing well. Cristy is really sore and let her pain meds go a bit too long in between and suffered for it. I don't think she will do that again any time soon. Jack is doing well but is suffering from a mild case of jaundice. He is a little yellow but they have put him in the baby tanning bed and he is looking very good. Both he and Cristy should be coming home tomorrow.

There are a few other stories to tell since I have some time to put this down. As Cristy was coming out of surgery and was being moved into recovery, she began choking. I grabbed her hand as a look of panic set in and the nurses and others began trying to help. She's looking at me like "help me, I can't breathe" and then her eyes roll back and she passes out. I'm absolutely freaking out at this point in time and she comes too and gets the saliva that was choking her down. It scared the crap out of me and the nurses and Dr's in the room. I had images of trying to raise 3 boys by myself. It really scared me bad. All is well that ends well though and she is fine.

As you may remember, we actually conceived twins but one was an acardiac twin. Well, the dean of the school of pathology came to our room last night and asked us to donate the body of the acardiac twin to the school. Turns out that are they not only rare but this one was the biggest, and most complete, they had ever seen. It was pretty much a full sized baby up to the point of the top of the shoulders, where everything stopped. Imagine a Stephen king baby where there is a full body but no head. There were also no real organs but they hadn't done a full analysis until they had our permission. we did end up donating the body to the university for teaching purposes as long as we got a full pathology report. I may post that here if I feel like it.

Enjoy these new pictures, we sure did.

Jack Day 2

Introducing Jack Harland Cressler

Cristy gave birth to our newest addition on the morning of the 28th of Dec, 2007 to a completely healthy baby boy. The C section went well with her in and out in about an hour. Jack, who was nameless for much of the day, is doing great and beginning to eat well. the boys love him to death... both want to hold him all the time. at the time of this writing both Mom and teh baby are still at the hospital but should be coming home for New Years Eve. I've posted quite a few pics here

Jack cressler Birth

and more will follow

Santa and the Boys

We took Max and Alex to see Santa this weekend, They both loved it but I think thismay be the last year Alex still believes in Santa. He's a smart kid and is beginning to figure it out. How sad, losing on of childhoods biggest mysteries :(

They are such good boys. Max asked Santa for a couple of presents but also asked if Alex could have some too. Its so nice when they think of each other although I am sure they will kill each other later

Alex Max and Santa 2007

Mike's 39th Birthday

Yes, Mike turned 39 this year! We had a big bash at his favorite BBQ restaurant (Q4U) and then headed back to our place for Black Forest Cake (homemade for the first time by Cristy! lopsided, but delicious :), Guitar Hero 3, and Poker Night. A good time was had by all and we had a blast sharing the day with friends and family. Say good-bye to your 30's Mike! It's all down hill from here. . .

Mike's Birthday 2007

Halloween 2007

We had a great Halloween this year! Alex was Harry Potter, and Max was a cute but fierce Batman. We had a lot of fun carving pumpkins and just enjoyed our nice mild weather. The boys didn't last very long out trick or treating, I guess they know that Mom will buy them candy anyway when what they've collected is gone.

Halloween 2007

All Hallows Eve 2007

A cool video explaing everything (string theory)

Its 2 min long and to the point

Cristy and the Baby...Status

OK, I will try to make this comprehensive, yet short. Cristy conceived twins but one is what is called a acardiac twin. basically its a Steven King baby. Its not conjoined or anything but it is parasitic. It has no heart, organs, head or much of anything but it is growing. The artery and veins from both babies umbilical cords are connected in the uterus. The good baby is pumping blood for both of them and that can cause heart failure. Now the good news...The good baby is doing ok so far. Its normal weight and length and the heart is looking good. Cristy is getting ultrasounds every week and as soon as the baby shows any sign of the heart issues or fluid build up they will take it. We are hoping to make 35 weeks but we will see. Keep all of you informed.

BTW, its a Boy.

New Job!

Well, I have officially left Fiserv, even though I am doing some short term contracting with them during the transition. I am know employed by the LDS church. I know, what has Mike gone off and done, but I am really excited and stoked about doing this. I will be working for the ICS dept, which is basically IT, and will be acting as a Sr. Prog Man. Not a bad job but I really think that I can help change things for the better. At least I hope so since that is why I am here

Long Weekend at Lake Powell

We had a blast on Mark's houseboat at Lake Powell. He has a 40 foot houseboat we all pile onto and then pull up some secluded cove. From there we tube, fish,and generally bake in the sun. it was 108 almost everyday. We ended up getting some bad gas out of a aux tank and the speedboat started to act funny the last day. Mark, in his typical take everything apart approach, finally listened and we got the engine started and kept it revved. The gas wasn't so bad it wouldn't burn but was gunked up enough to require a high rev and temp to keep the engine running. We had a tube war to see who could stay in the longest and my cousin, Micah, and I jumped 4-5 feet in the air. We don't have a pic of it but it felt like we flew forever. Enjoy the pics as much as we did making them.

Lake Powell

Last Day in Paradise

Its a sad day! I have to go back and get ready to re-enter the work force again. Boy, I would love to live here full time. We just hung out, took a glass bottom boat ride and lamented our inevitable departure. But like Ahhhnold, I"ll be back.

Kailua - Last Day

Honoka'a

We drove up from Kailua to my friend Ben's place and then on to Honoka'a. What a wonderful side of the island. Not nearly as desert like as the leeward side of the island. Just lush and tropical. Rained on us a bit but its hard to believe that they are in a drought. I would have never thought it could have happened there.

Ben gave us a tour of his farm. The kids had a blast feeding the chickens. He has a real nice place and is building a second house for himself and his wife.

Honoka'a was a killer little town. Its more of what a typical Hawaiian town is, according to Ben. We met some of his friends and neighbors who were really nice. They seemed suprised to see Ben in town. Seems he needs to get out more :)

Honoka'a

Anaeho'omalu Bay

This is definitely our favorite Beach. It wasn't crowded at all and had a great reef to swim over a couple hundred yards out. I took Alex snorkeling over the reef while he held onto a boogie board. We also bonded really well doing that together and it made a wonderful memory. I can't wait to do it again.

Anaeho'omalu Bay

Punalu'u and Volcano National Park

What a fantastic day! We got up early and headed out for the 100 mile trek to the park. It may not seem like far but when you are leisurely cruising at a average speed of 40 - 45 mph, it takes a little timie to get there. We stopped at Punalu'u and played on the black sand beach. It was a beautiful beach with the most interesting black sand, was real grainy. later found out it is because volcanic glass explodes on contact with the water as the lava flows out of the tubes up the coast. Needless to say, we had a blast. We also saw a sea turtle swimming and eating among the rocks. That was cool. I tried to photograph it but it was too elusive. Alex and I strolled along a couple of tide pools and saw a avariety of sealife. He thought it rocked...

But not nearly as hard as the Volcano. Wow, what a force of nature. There was not lava flowing from anywhere we could see, it looks like Kilauea has changed her path. Its flowing into land that is inaccessable and outside the park now. The lava has even stopped flwoing into the ocean now. We were bummed about that but had a blast none the less. We circled the entire rim, took a couple of hikes including devastation trail, ate lunch overlooking the caldera. Hiked along the sw Rift and ust enjoyed the entire experience. Alex's favorite part was tke Thurston Lava tube. You are hiking through a rain forest when it looms ahead like a gaping mouth. You can hike most of its length, there is about 380m that are not developed for tourists that you can go at alone, but it was enough. The kids wanted to do it again. I think to them it felt a bit like a tropical thrill ride.

Punalu'u Black Sand Beach

Volcano National Park

Sunday stroll

Ouch, are we burnt. Even the parts of my body I put sunscreen on 3x is tender. Cristy has"Red Lobster Legs" from passing out in the sun. Max is the only one not burnt because he took a 3 hr nap under a towel. Hmmm... maybe we should learn from him. We took it easy today. Did a little stroll around town, went up to the Kona temple, and topped Alex's birthday day off with a very cool Luau. The Luau rocked, the food was good, the entertainment was great and we had a blast.

One thing I did notice as I was contemplating things was that even in paradise, nowhere has everything. I was talking to some locals and if you wanted a meaningful job that was not associated with the tourist industry you had to leave the islands. I chewed on this for awhile. Say I did move here and had a great job, what would be offered to my kids outside the tourist industry? Is there anything wrong with that? I could see how people could become jaded living here because it looked like those who had the best jobs or most successful businesses were not natives, meaning local for many generations. I'm not sure how I feel about it but I do think that I need to not take for granted that I can be here enjoying this and be very grateful for being here.

Kailua Kona

A Day at Hapuna Beach

Wow, what an extraordinary time we had today. The kids played in the water, built sand castles, body surfed and boogie boarded. So did Cristy and I for that matter. I also went snorkeling off a spit of rock that jutted into the sea there. I only had some crappy equipment that was left at the condo but it was good enough and fun enough for all to have a great time. We slathered SPF 30 and 50 on multiple times but still got cooked on the places we missed. We Will definitely be much more conscientious next time we go out, that is for sure. After a fun filled Saturday at the beach, we went out to Dinner at a place called Huggo's. It was pretty good and the view was phenomenal. We really couldn't be closer to the beach than we were. We got home tired, exhausted and cooked but very happy.

Click the pics to see the album

Hapuna Beach

Dinner Out

First Day in Kona

We got to the condo at the Sea Village in Kailua at 1pm after jetting out from Honolulu. We settled in and immediately went grocery shopping to stock up for the week. Prices, while higher, are really not that bad at all. Our condo rocks and if it were any closer to the ocean, I would get spray from the seawall. Since this is the "newer" part of the island, there are very few beaches with sand but some great snorkeling areas. We were exhasusted and forced ourselves to stay up till a whopping 9pm, a respectable 1 am for us. We are heading out to the beaches in the morning and will see the volcano and waterfalls later in the week.

Sea Village at Kailua-Kona

First Day of Vacation

Well, the big Cressler Family Vacation has officially started. We landed in Honolulu on the 26th and settled in for a night at the Aloha Hotel on Waikiki. It was not the 4 seasons but it did the trick. It was a short walk to the beach and we headed there immediately. The kids had a blast and so did the parents. Max was a little worried about the waves at first but with a little coaxing, he was rolling around in the surf in no time. I realized that for all my effort, I was still the whitest dude on the beach. Ah well, that is what SPF 1000 is for I guess.

Waikiki

Dinosaur Quarry

Cristy and my Aunt Teresa took the kids out into the desert to this dinosaur quarry. They said it was incredible. Supposedly there are thousands of juvenile dinosaurs that all died in a 1000 sq ft area with no signs of trauma to their bones. They jokingly said that they had all died of smoking out behind the school, a nod to the far side. On the way back they had a major blowout. You can see the tire in the pics, it literally just split in two. Luckily no on e was hurt and the could pull over but this is in the middle of the desert and they had seen no one coming out. They had just pulled over when suddenly this British dude named Lennie pulls up and helps them out. They were very thankful because I don't think either would have figured out where everything is and how to run it. All is well that ends well and THANK YOU LENNY!

Cleveland Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry

Cristy Turns 40!

Yep, Cristy turned over another decade yesterday and did we have fun. I did a major roast with her friends and family here. It was a complete surprise because I had played like I wasn't going to do anything for it. I printed out tons of her kid picks and I also made T-Shirts with the best shot of the lot. I am going to post a couple of these along with the family and party shots we did.

The big present was the trip to Hawaii we are leaving on this Thursday. It is going to be a blast!

Cristy's 40th birthday

7 peaks water park

While Cristy's brother and family were in town, we went to a really great water park and had a blast. It was hot, around 103, so the water felt incredible. We did get burnt but not too bad. It was a ton of fun though and a great bonding opportuntiy. Notice the orange slide. It was incredible...incredibly steep that is.